The Bits in Between
by ThatWildWolf
Summary: After the events of The Wedding of Sarah Jane, the Doctor and Luke grow closer to each other, establishing something of a father-son relationship. What Luke doesn't initially realise is that it is not going to make his life more normal. If anything, just the opposite...
1. Chapter 1

"-and he looked at me like I was completely insane, and I was like 'Yeah. And it was totally bigger on the inside.' and the look he gave me-" Clyde almost teared up with laughter. "-completely priceless!"

The three friends shared a laugh.

"Sure," Rani added as soon as she regained her composure. "Aliens and spaceships. Who believes that?"

"Yeah," Luke laughed. "Complete science fiction."

"You think this is hilarious?" Clyde asked. "I met a girl once who believed there were aliens all around us!"

Luke glanced round, suddenly nervous, but his friends didn't seem to notice the change in his demeanour.

"And what did you tell her?" Rani inquired with a laugh.

"Oh, nothing particularly incriminating, just a bit about-"

"Look," Luke interrupted him hastily. "It was great and all, but I gotta go."

Without waiting for a goodbye, he ran off in a side alley.

Rani and Clyde stood motionless in place for a long moment. Neither of them said a word, not sure how to react.

"Is it me or has Luke been acting sort of... weird lately?" Rani finally asked, adjusting the school bag on her shoulder.

"Yeah, he's been sneaking away a lot, never told where to." Clyde narrowed his eyebrows. "Think we should...?"

"Don't be stupid, Clyde. Remember what happened last time, when we followed Sarah Jane after she did something like that?"

"And it turned out she was just going on a date, yeah," the boy admitted. Then, his eyes sparkled as another thought came to his mind. "You think Luke is seeing someone?"

Rani shrugged.

"Maybe."

Apparently satisfied with that explanation, the two continued their walk home in the general direction of Bannerman Road. Then, as if the realisation had come to them at the exact same moment, they simultaneously stopped dead in their tracks.

"Wait." They shared terrified looks. "Luke with a girl?"

There was a meaningful silence which only made the words sink in deeper.

"Definitely aliens this time."

 **Two weeks earlier**

 _It happened in a blink. Now everything was just like before the Doctor crashed the wedding, with one exception: the absence of the groom. Everyone present was murmuring among themselves._

 _"I'm sorry everyone," Sarah Jane's voice sounded strangely small, completely unlike her usual demeanour. "But I'm afraid the wedding is..." in the silence that fell as she said those words, the sound of her wedding bouquet hitting the floor seemed almost overpowering. "...cancelled."_

 _She then proceeded to exit the room, not caring for the whispers of the people around her. No one noticed, but there were tears forcing their way out of her eyes._

 _Luke was looking around, trying to find a very particular face in the small crowd of wedding guests._

 _"Where's the Doctor?" He asked, but Rani could only shake her head and follow Sarah Jane._

 **Two weeks later**

"And what?" Rani asked as Clyde sneaked round the corner.

"He's not here," came the answer. Rani wasn't sure if that was meant to be a joke or something, so she entered the same alley that first Luke, and now also Clyde, have disappeared in.

"How can he not be here?" She wondered aloud. "We have seen him walk in here and it's a blind alley!"

Glancing at Clyde, she noticed that he was as perplexed as herself.

"We should go tell Sarah Jane," he decided.

Rani nodded.

"Yeah."

 **Two weeks earlier**

 _Luke stood several meters from his mum and the small crowd of people who tried to comfort her, watching it all from a safe distance. He knew he should be there for her especially now, but it just felt weird to just go there among all these strangers and act as though he had everything under control. Besides..._

 _"She's going to be fine." The voice - the Doctor's voice - sounded so close to his ear, and echoed his thoughts so perfectly that he almost jumped in surprise. Instead, he only did his best not to look. "Sarah," the Doctor explained, apparently taking his silence for lack of understanding. "She'll be fine, in time."_

 _"She needs you," Luke said, and as soon as the words left his mouth, he realised they might as well have been directed towards him._

 _"She doesn't need me," the Time Lord opposed. "She's got you lot."_

 _"And you... You're just going to go?" For some reason he didn't understand, Luke felt what seemed like regret._

 _"That's the way I usually do it."_

 _Luke turned to stare at him, and as they established eye contact for the first time, both of them felt a tiny tingle of fear of the other, mixed with a hint if respect._

 _"Mum isn't 'usually'!" Luke almost spat the words._

 _Luke somehow survived the killing look that he received, though it wasn't easy. The Doctor looked away._

 _"I'm going to pop in for a visit, probably," he said in a tone that suggested this was his way of giving in to something. "To say proper goodbyes and stuff. Today, I promise."_

 **Two weeks later**

"Sarah Jane!" Clyde screamed as he practically burst in through the front door, Rani following him a bit more hesitantly. "Sarah Jane, something weird is happening, Luke has vanished and-!"

He stopped as the person in question walked down the stairs with a history book in his hand.

"I'm here, Clyde," Luke said in a voice that suggested it should be obvious. Clyde couldn't help but notice that he's had the time to change from the school uniform.

Sarah Jane walked out of the kitchen, an apron tied around her waist.

"We've been wondering where have _you_ been, actually." She said. "Luke's been waiting here for half an hour."

"Half an hour?" Rani repeated. "But that's not possible, we've only just seen Luke not more than ten minutes ago."

"You must be getting something wrong," Sarah Jane dismissed. "Luke has definitely been here the whole time. Besides, how would he have got here without you noticing in the first place?"

"Rani's right. It can't have been more than ten minutes. School's close, and we were at least halfway through the way."

"Well, I can't have been in two places at once," Luke reasoned. "Biexistence is scientifically impossible. I would need a time machine - at the very least."

 **Two weeks earlier**

 _"D'you want a lift?" The Doctor pointed at the TARDIS. "Plenty of room inside."_

 _Luke smiled at the somewhat crude attempt at a joke, and then shook his head._

 _"And have it ended in countless 'delays'? No way." He grinned. "I know how this works."_

 _He set off in the general direction of the rest of the wedding guests, then, as if having remembered something important, he stopped at turned back to look at the Time Lord, who just stood there and watched him with an unsure expression._

 _"I hold you to your word!" Luke called to him, and then, silently wondering if he wasn't going too far, added "...Dad."_

 _He turned back and ran down the hill, apparently a little afraid at the possible outcomes of his boldness. The Doctor stared after him with wide eyes, an expression of utter disbelief spreaded across his face. Then, he broke into a grin as he opened the TARDIS door and looked back before entering the ship._

 _"Oh, we'll definitely meet again, Luke Smith," he muttered with a smirk._

=oooOOO~OOOooo=

Rani watched with concern as Clyde continued to observe Luke with a pair of binoculars.

"He's off again," he announced as Luke walked down the street, looking around nervously. It did look somewhat suspicious, but Rani still thought Clyde was overreacting.

"Don't you think this is a bit of an exaggeration?" She asked, trying to sound reasonable. "After all, it _is_ possible that he's just seeing a girl."

"Yeah. Very possible." Clyde rolled his eyes. "Just think about it, Rani. What if it really is aliens? They might be using his superbrain for something. Maybe they're blackmailing him so that he won't tell us. How would you know?"

Rani sighed. She had to admit Clyde had some kind of intuition when it came to these matters, but sometimes she thought he was being completely obsessive with conspiracy theories.

"Blackmailing him _how_?" She asked. "It's Luke we're talking about. I'm pretty sure he'd tell us if something was wrong."

This time, Clyde ignored her comments and instead focused on Luke, adjusting his binoculars to the increasing distance.

"Where _is_ he even going? There's nothing there." He grabbed his backpack and shoved the binoculars inside. "Come on, we'll follow him."

He didn't wait for an answer, immediately jogging down the street in the general direction of where Luke had gone. Rani could only follow.

"He's heading for that old building," Clyde said, and Rani couldn't help but notice the excitement in his voice. He was taking all of this too much like some kind of a game. Didn't he even wonder about how they were possibly destroying their friend's private life? If there was something Luke wanted to keep a secret, they should respect it.

"School," she corrected him anyway.

"What?" Clyde was perplexed.

"That building," she explained. "Used to be a school. Me and Sarah Jane wrote about it like a week ago, old buildings that aren't used anymore. I doubt anyone has been inside for decades."

"Sounds cool." Clyde winced. "Since when does _Luke_ do cool? I'm telling you, there's something suspicious about this whole thing."

"Maybe we should leave it?" Rani suggested, but he was already at the door.

"Open," he noticed.

They walked inside. The hall resembled the one in their school, only in a state of decay. Most of the windows were boarded up, so only a very little amount of light made its way inside.

"Amazing paintball site," Clyde mused as they looked around.

"Loads of dust, too." Rani coughed.

"Yeah, so we can see Luke's footprints in it," he said. Rani was convinced he was joking.

"Alright, be serious now."

"I _am_ serious. Just look."

True enough, the layer of dust on the floor was so thick that the last person who went inside left a very visible trail.

"Do we follow it or what?"

"I think we should, just keep your guard up." Clyde adjusted his jacket nervously. "We can't possibly know what's going on. Might be Bane, or Daleks, or whatever monstrosity it is this time."

"Might be Luke and his girlfriend," Rani opposed quietly.

"His _nonexistent_ girlfriend. You can't seriously believe this! Luke in a stable relationship? And even if it is so, why would he hide it from us?" He shook his head. "Never mind us, why would he hide it from Sarah Jane?"

"Maybe he's afraid that we won't understand," Rani said thoroughly.

Clyde didn't know how to answer that, so he looked away.

"C'mon." He began following Luke's footprints. Rani glanced around hesitantly, then followed him. They walked into one of the classrooms and suddenly the trail ended.

"Ha!" Clyde exclaimed as though he had won a prize in proving points. "Told you, teleportation. People don't disappear into thin air just like that."

Rani had to admit that this time, he was right.

"So what do we do now?" She asked. "Because the way I see it, Luke hasn't been kidnapped by aliens - he came here on his own." She thought about it for a minute. "What if it's nice aliens? You know, the rare kind that don't want to destroy the Earth. Imagine it like this: Luke makes friends with an alien, is afraid to tell us because he doesn't know how we are going to react-"

"So we should tell Sarah Jane."

"And what if she asks how do we know this? We can't tell her we've been stalking her son for the past few days!"

"Yeah, doesn't sound that good." Clyde had to admit.

"You know..." Rani hesitated. She joined her hands and closed her eyes for a moment. "Luke _is_ our friend. Maybe we should just trust him."

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever is going on, he's keeping it a secret from us, but he's not exactly complaining, either. What I'm getting to is, maybe we should trust in his ability to judge the situation... If he thinks it's best not to tell us what's up, then maybe it _is_ best not to tell us."

Clyde nodded slowly.

"So, working scenario: Luke's friends with some alien and keeps it a secret?"

"Yeah." Rani smiled. Then, she pouted angrily. "But you're not investigating it further!"

"Don't you worry." He patted her on the cheek. "I'm not about to destroy the little privacy he has with friends like us."

=oooOOO~OOOooo=

It has been two weeks since their agreement about Luke's secret life, and so far no one has mentioned it until the one sunny afternoon when Rani and Clyde were walking home from school and Clyde glanced into a smaller alley.

"Okay!" He gasped in shock, pressing himself against the nearest wall. "Okay! I'm leaving it!"

"What?" Rani looked at him with concern; he was acting rereally strange.

"Working scenario: Luke's friends with an alien of unknown intentions. Actual situation: Luke is friends with an alien, alright. But I really do doubt they're planning an invasion."

"What do you mean?"

Clyde simply grabbed her and dragged towards the alley he had just ran out of. Rani squinted her eyes.

"But that's..." She joined the facts quite easily, especially as Luke exited the police box standing in the corner of the yard.

Clyde quickly crouched, pulling her down with him. They hid behind a rose bush and watched. Luke stopped, turned around and said something that they couldn't hear. The Doctor poked his head out of the TARDIS, looked around and replied. Luke nodded, gave him a quick, awkward hug and ran off. Rani held her breath as he passed their hiding place, but he didn't notice them.

They waited until the sound of the TARDIS had faded completely before they dared to leave their bush. Clyde fought with rose petals sticking to his blouse.

"Well, I have got to admit... This isn't what I've been expecting." He summed up.

"Yeah..." Rani laughed. "We thought Luke was being blackmailed by hostile aliens."

"What _is_ going on, though? Because from what I understand..." He scratched his head. "No, actually, I don't understand anything."

"Because you can't place yourself in Luke's situation. Isn't it obvious?"

"...No. Please explain."

"Luke isn't more than two years old," she reminded. "Everything is still new to him. He's trying to fit in, to be like a normal kid... Sarah Jane is good for him, but it's obvious he needs a father too."

"The time traveller and the Time Lord?" Clyde stiffened a laugh. "Blimey, talk about normal."

Rani made a face.

"This is probably as normal as it's ever going to get for him." She shook her head. "Luke isn't an ordinary kid. Don't expect him to seek ordinary parent figures in his life."

"Still..." Clyde narrowed his eyes. "You know, this actually makes sense." He laughed. "The time traveller and the Time Lord. They make one heck of a family, these two."

"And Luke." Rani added.

"And Luke," Clyde agreed. "He'll fit in, alright."

 **A/N: No Clyde and Rani in the future chapters, I'm afraid. I just wanted us to sort of enter this relationship along with someone from outside** **, that's the only reason I featured them in here.**


	2. Chapter 2

Luke rubbed his eyes as he looked up from the book he was reading. He was sitting on the couch in the living room - with a nightlight turned on, as it had already gone dark. On the coffee table right next to him were two piles of books: one with those he had already finished and the other with ones he had yet to read. Chain isomerism was proving a fascinating topic. Yes, chemistry was definitely something he was interested in. Actually, he was interested in pretty much everything (maybe aside from art and poetry). The world was fascinating; he just couldn't understand why others didn't see it that way. Maybe if he lived long enough, it would eventually cease to amaze him too. After all, his friends had lived in this world much longer than he had - maybe his childlike awe was something that would disappear with age. But then again, there certainly was at least _one_ person he knew who understood and shared his fascination with the universe. The Doctor. The Doctor, who, as it happened, had lately been very interested in Luke and his life. To the extent that Luke had caught the Time Lord actually stalking him at least twice - was 'stalking' he correct verb? He still couldn't quite get the hang of slang and modern language - and one of these days, when his friends weren't looking, he straightforwardly asked the Doctor what exactly he was doing. 'Just checking if everything's alright', apparently. Luke initially just shrugged it off. But then it started to become more and more suspicious: accidentally bumping into him at the grocer's or pulling him away from the street at just barely the last moment before he was run over by a motorbike... Even once the Doctor actually invited him to a chess match. It wasn't a good idea. The game ended with a definite draw and Luke later had had to explain himself to Sarah Jane as to why he had come home three hours later than usually.

It wasn't that the Doctor was prying his way into Luke's life, but the boy did notice his attempts to become a part of it. He initially didn't know what to do with the situation - he had considered asking Sarah Jane about it, but quickly dismissed the idea - and in the end decided to just accept it. It was actually good. The Doctor may not have been the most reliable person in the universe, but Luke was thrilled at the idea of having something like a father in his life. He embraced the fact that it was specifically the Doctor with joy - ever since he could remember, Sarah Jane had talked about him fondly and ever since he had first met the Time Lord in person, Luke looked up to him with admiration. He wasn't completely sure how to classify their newly-forming relationship, but he had never been very good with feelings and emotions, so he figured it was only natural.

Of course, as time went to pass, Luke found himself living something of a double life - his normal one on Bannerman Road: going to school, hanging out with friends and fighting aliens, and the occasional meetings with the Doctor. He couldn't decide which was closer to normal. Probably neither, but he couldn't actually think about that. He just didn't know where to place the Doctor in his life. He was beginning to think of him as the most definite father figure in his life, but had some restrictions from calling him 'dad' - he only did that once, after that whole business with Peter, but it was only to provoke the Time Lord so that he would come back later that day, so it didn't count. Of course, he remembered that he had initially had reservations about calling Sarah Jane 'mum' too, but if he remembered correctly - and he _did_ , because he had a huge memory storage in his brain - it was Maria who had persuaded him into doing so. He didn't have Maria anymore. He didn't have _anyone_ who knew about him and the Doctor. He would have to settle that on his own, then.

For now, his relationship with the Doctor was just only beginning to grow, so he couldn't possibly predict what would be its outcome. It was possible it wouldn't go anywhere - that the Doctor would get bored of this sort of thing, or regenerate and not want to have anything to do with Luke anymore - but there was also the tempting vision that soon Luke would actually grow close enough to the Doctor that he would be given access to the TARDIS and all those amazing things it held within. So far, he had only seen the spaceship thrice - only once from the inside, and even that mostly due to Sarah Jane's presence, which made the Doctor more open to the rest of them. It was almost as though the Doctor didn't _want_ Luke to go anywhere near it, be it for Luke's sake or his own. Or maybe - Luke was beginning to notice that his imagination turned out to be quite powerful when it came to theorising - the Doctor was simply testing Luke. Whether he was interested in space-time travel or the Doctor himself. That was fine: Luke wasn't looking for adventure. He just wanted a father.

Luke stirred as a sudden noise made him snap out of his thoughts. He was so startled that he knocked down the chemistry book he had been reading. He quickly picked it up, found the page he had been reading, marked it with a piece of paper, and proceeded to investigate the source of the noise. It turned out to be his mobile phone. Luke took it in his hand and looked at the screen. He stopped.

"Mum?" He called, but Sarah Jane was nowhere to be seen.

And the phone still vigorously claimed that 'TARDIS' was calling.

Luke hesitantly answered the phone and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked uncertainly.

"Luke!" The Doctor's voice was too overenthusiastic, just like almost always. "Great! Listen, I need your help! What's the sextet in the A-minor tonation with a bass key?*"

"...What?" He couldn't utter much more than that. This was a whole new level of invading his privacy - the Doctor was getting more and more creative with time.

"I'm writing a song!" Luke could practically _hear_ the smile on the Time Lord's face. He was beaming with pride. "The Ode to the Universe, sounds good, dontcha think?"

Luke covered the phone's microphone with the palm of his hand.

"...Mum?!" He repeated.

"What is it?" answered Sarah Jane's voice coming from the kitchen.

"Do you have the Doctor's phone number?"

He could hear the muffled screams of "No, nonononono, Luke, don't hang up!" from his mobile, but decided to ignore them.

"What? Phone number?" She was surprised. "No, I doubt he even has a phone."

"The TARDIS is a phone box," Luke suggested, but he could already see the point: the Doctor was calling him and _only_ him. He didn't know if he should feel more honoured or uncomfortable with that fact.

He looked down at the phone in his hand

"Nonono, don't hang up! Luke-! Lukelukelukeluke wai-"

Luke hung up.

He shook his head. Whatever was going on, it was slowly getting out of his control; it was a situation he was not used to. He just hoped it wouldn't continue to be that way.

oooOOO~OOOooo=

"Why are you doing this?"

The Doctor looked up from his glass of orangeade, clearly surprised by the sudden change of subject in the conversation.

"What do you mean?" He asked, fingers idly playing with the straw. The ice cubes in his drink had already melted, but still he chose to stir it.

"This. Everything." Luke wasn't sure how to put what was on his mind into words. "You and me. What's the reason behind it?"

The Doctor eyed him carefully for a few seconds, then burst into a short wave of laughter.

"I think you'll find I very rarely have a reason for the things I do." He took a sip of the orangeade, now completely ignoring the straw that he had been so focused on just a minute earlier. "Ask your mother. She would know best."

"Oh." Luke glanced down at the table. He hadn't been expecting this kind of answer, and it confused him a little.

"Why are you asking? Something wrong?"

Luke squinted his eyes as the sun came out of the clouds and shone straight in his face. The Doctor quickly reached into his jacket's pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses for him to use.

Luke stared at his hand holding the specs, as if surprised by that simple gesture, before finally accepting them and putting on.

"...I'm fine," he answered in the end. "It's just... This is all a bit surreal."

"Surreal?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "For you, who've fought aliens and monsters, what can be surreal?"

"Well, we're sitting in a café." Luke reasoned. "A completely normal café."

"So it's normal." The Time Lord shrugged. "I don't see how that's surreal."

"It's _you_."

"Ah," he laughed. "Alright then. If that's the way you want to phrase it."

There was a moment of silence.

"So... has anything interesting happened lately?"

"Nah..." The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. "Got zapped onto another planet, though. In a bus. That was some fun."

"Hold on, that was this Easter." Luke narrowed his brows. "You've been gone for two days and what you've done is that you've gone back in time to April?"

"Time travel." He shrugged.

"Time travel." Luke repeated it much more respectfully.

The Doctor bit his lip, concerned by the longing in Luke's voice as he was saying the words. This was probably the only topic they hadn't discussed yet, and one of the few he would like to avoid discussing.

He really didn't want to play Luke around this way, but... Technically, this wasn't even telepathy. No encroachment on free will. Just a clever way of manipulating the conversation.

"Feel like playing chess?"

Luke nodded vigorously, a massive grin on his face.

"I'll pay," he offered happily and walked over to the counter. The Doctor watched him with a frown. He knew he couldn't keep things the way they were forever, but he also knew that he could at least _try_. Keeping Luke safe was all he wanted to do right now. Not that there was anything in particular endangering Luke's life at the moment, but he knew how his life rolled. So far things had been going great between them, but he knew that, sooner or later, he would make a mistake. It was always like that, but this time he was determined to keep things different. Luke wasn't one of his companions. He wasn't going to suffer because of him.

"Doctor?" Luke asked, making him suddenly aware of the reality around him. "Are you coming or what?"

The Doctor smiled, fighting to ignore the pang of guilt in his heart.

"Yeah," he said as he rose from the table. "I'll be right behind you."

Luke was a brilliant kid and, honestly, the last thing the Doctor wanted to do was to make him upset. Still, he couldn't help but feel guilty for the way he was cutting him away from real life. He couldn't do that forever, he couldn't just keep on shielding Luke from all the evil in the universe. It was childish of him to even _think_ he would ever succeed in something like that, especially since Luke had already seen his share of evil in his short life. _Maybe one day, I'll take him with me,_ he thought, but mostly just to keep his conscience from gnawing at him.

He looked down and sighed.

One day.

* * *

 **A/N: Wow. Just... wow. I wasn't expecting this amount of feedback so early, especially since SJA is a kinda niche fanfiction genre, but wow. Guys, you're amazing. Whoever you are and whenever you are reading this, thank you.**

 **I had initially started this story as a bit of an experiment if I could write something like this, but now I see that I am definitely going to keep it going**.  
 **This is _probably_ going to end up a series of one-shots - but completely different from my fic with the Doctor and Sarah Jane in many aspects: this is going to have loads of action and adventure and the chapters will be connected... I don't know. It might most resemble a TV show in its structure.  
** **Anyway, this isn't important. The important thing is, this party has just only begun. I'm having great hopes for this one.**

 **Side note: Do people drink orangeade in Britain? I don't know O.o All I know is that it's something I could imagine the Doctor and Luke drinking on a hot day (it's August now in this story, I think).**

 **Review, and stay awesome.  
** **-Wild**

* * *

 ***I apologise for insulting anyone who knows a thing about music. I don't, so I just wrote something like this: it sounds like complete gibberish to me (it probably is) so it also sounds professional. Like many things the Doctor would say; sounds better than 'magic door'.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I know it's very slow for now, but don't worry, it will pass - the next chapter begins with a chase.**

* * *

Luke blankly stared at the piece of paper in his hands, mentally taking a note never to ask the Doctor for a lecture about something again. It had started innocently enough: he had just asked about the stars. Particularly, what they meant to the Doctor. He was just trying to maintain a normal conversation, and that was what normal people talked about, right? The point that he was only just beginning to see was that: one, he had never been very good at that emotional stuff and two, he shouldn't have made the mistake of applying 'normal people' to the Doctor.

So now he was just sitting in his room, holding the note which only said ' _talk about the stars, midnight sharp, meet me on the roof_ ' and wondering whether this all was a good idea.

It's not like he felt uncomfortable about 'this all'; he had come to deeply care for the Doctor during those last few weeks - even love him in a way completely alien to him up until then. Not what he had thought he felt towards Maria, not the way he cared for Clyde as a friend, and still not the same way he loved Sarah Jane as his mother. This new emotion was making him feel funny, because he really didn't know how to act about it.

Another thing that was worrying him was that he had no idea how long he could keep on keeping this a secret. It would be just a bit easier if the Doctor didn't insist on staying in town at all times and didn't want to let Luke anywhere as much as anywhere near the TARDIS. Still, they managed. They had never run into Sarah Jane or anyone either of them knew so far, but Luke knew that this wasn't likely to end well. Today, though, was off the limits. The roof?! Just what was he thinking?! The best place for stargazing, of course, but still... wasn't it dangerous? As soon as it crossed his mind, Luke smiled at that thought. After being chased by Slitheen and fighting off Daleks, going up to the roof of his house didn't seem that dangerous anymore. He could only imagine how pedestrian it must have appeared to the Doctor.

Waiting until midnight wasn't as easy as it would have appeared, Luke realised. Or rather, it _was_ \- for anyone other than him. His genetically engineered organism demanded its perfectly calculated amount of a good night's rest and he had to fight with sleepiness all the time. He was all the more determined to endure at least until midnight because of that, though.

When the clock finally struck twelve, which felt to Luke as though ages had passed, he forced his tired body to walk to the attic as quietly as it was possible and let out the breath he hadn't realised he was holding when he made sure that Mr Smith was offline. After a minute or so of looking around in search for a means of going up to the roof, he found it - faster than he expected to - in the form of a small door in the ceiling. He suspected that Sarah Jane had already known about this before she had bought the house - it seemed like something she would like to have.

Luke slid the door open, and then realised he had never actually been on the roof before. It shouldn't have come as that much of a surprise, as most people didn't actually spend time on their houses' rooftops, but it felt weird to know how easy it was to get there but still never have done it.

He climbed up and stood shakily, but the ground turned out to be much more stable than he had expected, what he reckoned was a nice surprise. Looking around, he could see the lights in the windows of many of the other houses in the neighbourhood, and the faintest flicker of stars in the sky high above. The air seemed fresher, though he knew it was just a trick, as the air temperature would only drop at the height of four hundred metres. He shook his head. Clyde had told him he shouldn't interpret everything scientifically, as it wasn't healthy for his mind. It was somewhat hard sometimes, though...

The Doctor was there too, and Luke was amazed by how long it had taken him to notice the Time Lord. He was sitting near the edge on something that looked like a picnic blanket, and apparently waiting for Luke to join.

Without a word, Luke carefully walked up to him, not sure whether he should feel afraid of falling, confused with why the Doctor had chosen the roof for their meeting, or astonished by how beautiful it was. For the time being, he felt a mixture of the three, possibly with some other, less significant emotions thrown in the mix.

"Hi." He said after sitting down on what turned out to be the Doctor's trench coat.

"Hi," came the reply.

"So... the stars?" Luke asked. He resisted the urge to yawn. He was still tired, even if the fresh air had made him more awake for a moment.

"The stars," confirmed the Doctor. "Just look at all those shiny little particles floating in the great blackness of your sky!" He was talking in his typical 'excited voice', which, as Luke was beginning to work out, he used when he wanted to share something that meant much to him with others. "Then, think about how each of those lights is a sun, or a planet, or a whole galaxy, all of them hundreds of thousands of light years away! Then, think about how little this planet of yours is, and consider how each of those hundreds of little lights in the sky may be a world bigger than the one you've known all your life. This is the true beauty of the universe."

"The universe is beautiful," Luke agreed absently, trying his best not to fall asleep then and there.

"It is, isn't it?" It wasn't clear whether the Doctor was talking to himself or to Luke. He wasn't even looking at the boy, and from the half-smile on his face, it wasn't clear if he was aware of his surroundings at all.

"You know them all, don't you?" Luke wanted to ask, and unintentionally did it aloud.

"Huh?" The Time Lord snapped out of his trance.

"The names," Luke explained. "Of the stars. Mum told me you know all of them."

The Doctor nodded.

"We would do this all night, Sarah and me. Just sit on the grass of this planet or the other and look at the night sky for hours." He smiled absently. "Oh, she loved it."

"She still does."

The Doctor looked taken aback.

"So do I."

They sat in silence for a while.

"It's not a bad life we lead," the Doctor said finally. "Don't you think, Luke?"

There was no answer.

"...Luke?"

The boy did not reply, and it soon became obvious that he was fast asleep. The Doctor frowned at first, not entirely sure how to deal with the situation, especially as Luke's head was rested on his chest, which practically immobilised him. Then, he smiled warmly and pulled a loose strand of hair from Luke's face and placed it behind his ear.

Eventually, that time of night came when it was too cold to stay out, and, although he knew that Luke was supposed to be immune to all human diseases, the Doctor decided not to take any chances and had to move them from their place on the rooftop. He carefully picked Luke up, holding the boy close to his hearts, as if he were the most precious thing in the universe. And for that moment, maybe he was.

Going down the stairs proved to be a bit tricky at night, especially with Luke in his arms, but the Doctor was determined to make it without waking him. When he eventually reached Luke's room and proceeded to tug the boy in his bed and drapped the blankets over him, he paused to have a look around. Instead of toys, the shelves were filled with scientific equipment of all sorts. Then he reminded himself that 16 years old is too old for toys anyway.

The Doctor turned to leave, but yet again, when he was at the door, something stopped him. This time, it was the faint echo of footsteps in the hallway. He shut his eyes, wincing. He must have woken Sarah up while making his way down the stairs.

"Doors are overrated anyway," he muttered under his breath as he headed for the window.

=ooO*Ooo=

"You did _not_."

Luke was staring up at the Doctor (who was still a head taller than him, even though he had grown quite a bit during the last few months) and trying to decide whether he was serious or not.

"No, I'm completely serious." The Doctor answered almost as though he were reading Luke's mind.

"You. Hired out. A stadium."

"Well, it's not really an actual stadium, more of a football field, and yes, I did." He frowned. "What's wrong with that?"

"No, nothing. I just thought you were more of a breaking in during the night person."

"Now, this is really offensive!" The Doctor laughed. Luke figured it must have been a joke, so he laughed too. He was getting quite good at human emotions - even when he didn't fully understand them, he knew how to react. It made him beam with pride and he even wanted to tell someone about his improvements... But who? Surely the Doctor didn't know about his struggle with everyday human life, so he wouldn't understand. Sarah Jane was good to talk to, but not about these sort of things; she was definitely just a parent. But Clyde... Luke thought about his best friend, who had always given him advice when he needed it and talked with him, even about the most embarrassing of topics. Yes, if there was anyone he was able to consider his tutor in all things normal, it was Clyde. With that on his mind, Luke returned to the conversation.

"So what's the special occasion?" He asked. He wondered if it was only his brain that processed information this quickly and could stimulate such long thought processes in just a fraction of a second and then simply return to the here and now or of it was normal. He supposed he would never find out.

"Oh, nothing special," he heard the Doctor answer, but didn't fully focus on it. "Just thought we might do some running. You know, to keep in shape and all. Need to have those muscles working to escape from the aliens."

Luke, who had only been half-listening up to that point, felt somewhat confused.

"What aliens?" He asked.

"Dunno." The Time Lord shrugged. "Whatever it is you do on daily basis."

Luke just shook his head as they made their way towards the racetrack and the Doctor looked at him in silent question.

"I just wanted to check something."

Luke raised an eyebrow.

"...Okay. What distance do you want to-?"

The Doctor threw his coat on the ground, soon proceeded by his jacket.

"Until you get too tired to keep on. That about fine for you? You don't have to push yourself too hard. I just wanna check, honest."

Luke nodded. He thought it wouldn't be too hard: admittedly, he was certainly much better dressed for running than the Doctor was - and there was also the age difference. He was pretty confident he could prove himself physically fit enough. The Doctor, however, had the body of a thirty-five-year-old, so he wouldn't exactly be in his top condition. Luke was almost sure he would win this race quite easily. The only thing that worried him was that the Doctor apparently was treating this like some kind of experiment. What was he trying to check?

The Doctor set off without any warning, leaving Luke standing in his place with a miffed expression.

"Hey!" He complained aloud. "That was a headstart!" He immediately broke into a run to catch up with the Doctor, who was already a few metres ahead of him.

He sped up, breaking into a full sprint, and soon enough managed to get into the first place. Luke smiled under his nose. He was fast. He knew he was fast - he was supposed to be the perfect human being, after all - but it surprised him how easily he had managed to leave the Time Lord behind. It didn't require that much effort, actually. Was the Doctor intentionally letting him win? He shook his head. Why was he overinterpreting everything? There was no evil plot in an innocent race, now was there? He just had to run, reach the finish line and show the Doctor that he was perfectly capable of... whatever it was the Doctor was trying to find out.

Luke felt himself growing a bit tired. Not much, but he decided to slow down the pace anyway. Soon, he began to realise that he couldn't keep on like that for much longer. His initial sprint might have given him the upper hand, but now he was slowly losing any lead he might have gained before, all of that due to how much of a strain on his energy the fast run had been.

When he got to the finish line - a long time after the Doctor - all Luke could do was pant.

"Stamina," the Doctor grinned. He had barely begun to get tired. "It comes with experience."

Luke couldn't answer: he was too busy trying to breathe regularly. It was hard. The cold air seemed to hurt his throat like daggers made of ice.

"Try to breathe through your hands," the Doctor advised. "More carbon dioxide will cumulate in a small space, the air'll be warmer."

Luke could see the logic, but he could also see that this was only for his comfort, as that wouldn't change much in the way the air affected his throat. If anything, breathing through his nose would be the most sensible course of action. He did that, and after a moment could actually gather the strength to speak.

"That was a stupid mistake, sprinting off like that."

"Happens to the best of us," the Doctor shrugged with a grin.

"What were you trying to check?" Luke asked once he felt well enough to be confident in his ability to maintain a conversation. "You told me you wanted to check something. Did it work?"

"Oh yes," the Time Lord nodded sagely. "I was wondering whether you would put much confidence in your abilities. Frankly, I'm surprised by how seriously you treated this."

Luke glanced down. That was the problem; he took _everything_ seriously. It's not like he still couldn't recognise sarcasm, but he was still far from being a normal kid. But did he _want_ to be a normal kid? He recalled all the times him being different had saved the world. He thought about how his friends loved him the way he was. Then, he thought about the Doctor, who had become a major part of his life during the last few months, even if Luke himself still felt awkward. It was even stranger than with Sarah Jane, because 'the Doctor' wasn't even a name. Luke rolled his eyes. He would have started calling him 'dad' a long time ago, if only he'd known what the Doctor was expecting him to do. All he knew was that for some reason he had decided to take Luke under his wing - not exactly to teach him anything, just to give him a semblance of a family. Or maybe... Of course! Luke felt ashamed of how long it had taken him to realise it. Of course, it wasn't about himself and giving _him_ a family when he already had one. Why hadn't he thought earlier that maybe it was the Doctor who was gaining something out of their relationship? Because now that he looked back on it, it made perfect sense. Back when they had first started meeting, the Doctor had been little more than an emotional wreck, talking about death and loss and loneliness all the time, but now Luke noticed that his earlier liveliness and passion were slowly returning to the Time Lord. He didn't know for sure, but he was happy to think that he played a part in that. From the look of things, even not a small one.

=ooO*Ooo=

"Do you have to go?" He knew it was childish of him to ask that, but he actually felt like a child for the moment.

The Doctor laughed casually, leaning on the side of the TARDIS and showing much more confidence than Luke was able to gather in himself.

"What? Do you want me to stay here in London?" He winced jokingly. "Nah, boring. Not for me."

"Then again..." Luke slowly reached out to touch the TARDIS. He felt cold wood under hid hand as he traced his fingers on the ship's surface. It was strange, but he thought that he could almost feel something more beneath his fingers, some faint pulsing, as if... life? "I suppose... We could go somewhere else..."

The Doctor glanced at him with a fair dose of concern. The way he was looking at the TARDIS was very alarming to him.

"Luke," he said, hoping his voice would make the boy return to the here and now. "You know this as well as I do, but I can repeat myself if I have to. This is you and me. And that's all it is, just the two of us." He wanted to get through with the fact that he cared for Luke as a person, not some rare specimen, and that in the same way he expected to be treated like a sentient being, not just a pass to space travel. This was crucial to their relationship working properly. He had to make sure Luke understood how much it mattered to him that he didn't end up becoming just another face in a long line of companions. This was something new. Or was it something very, very old? Either way, it was different. "I thought I had made myself clear enough. The TARDIS stays where it is." It sounded harsher than he had intended and he found himself wincing.

"I know..." Luke hesitantly parted with the police box. "Don't worry, it really doesn't matter. I don't need any more adventure in my life than I already have. I just want you to be there with me."

The Doctor stared at him, wondering how come he had read this boy so wrong. Here he was trying to make him understand, when in fact Luke understood it better than he himself did. And from that moment there, he knew that no matter what happened, it would always be just that: him and Luke, and that they would care for each other because of who they were. It was something the Doctor hadn't known for a long time: it was almost like having a family.

"You know, Luke, if you feel it's right you _can_ call me dad. It's not like I'm gonna have anything against it."

The moment he saw the expression on Luke's face, he knew that it had been just the right thing to say.

* * *

 **A/N: This is just a friendly reminder that this story is what I like to call "potentially canon", as many of my other fanfics (exactly one) are: everything in the story might not have happened in the show, but there's no evidence against it happening. Basically, it might have happened, except we'll never know whether it actually did.**

 **Also, there'll be actual action in the next chapter. It is beginning. Luke has no idea how the Doctor's life rolls yet... But he'll find out soon** **enough** ***evil laughter***


	4. Chapter 4

Luke's first trip in the TARDIS was an improvised result of a hasty attempt to get away from police chasing them. If it hadn't been for the overpowering rush of adrenaline flowing through his body, he would have been thrilled at that. At the moment, though, he felt like an outlaw.

"I had no idea it was against the law!" The Doctor cried out as they ran down the street. Luke couldn't see his expression, but he suspected it must have been one of panic. "I was just trying to help them!"

"Of course it's against the law!" He shouted. "Who even _tries_ to steal a _police car_?!"

" _I_ do!" The Doctor roared in reply. He grabbed Luke's hand and sped up just a bit. "And for your information, I wasn't trying to _steal_ it!" He pulled Luke inside the TARDIS and shut the door behind them. "I was just checking if their communications system is working correctly."

Panting, they looked at each other while trying to calm down.

"Okay," the Doctor said. "High time we made our great escape, dontcha think?"

Actually, Luke thought that it was a bit unfair, since the Doctor had all that superior alien technology from the future and the policemen didn't stand a chance, but he didn't say anything as the Time Lord jumped to the console and started pressing seemingly random buttons.

Luke looked around the ship's spacious interior. He felt it again now, the same thing he had felt the first time he had entered the TARDIS all those weeks ago: the strange feeling of pressure in the back of his mind. It was not a physical sensation, yet he could feel it quite vividly.

"...Dad?" He asked, savouring the sound of the word on his tongue. "I'm feeling weird."

The Doctor was immediately concerned and stopped whatever it was that he had been doing before.

"Is it the TARDIS? Maybe you're getting spacesick. Well, _technically_ we aren't even in space - I've put the TARDIS in drift mode, we're just floating in the vortex - but you know what I mean."

"No, I'm not... It's different. It's like a sort of an instinct. Like... I know where we're going, even though I _don't_ know." He massaged his temples, wincing.

"And where are we going?" The Doctor knelt down on the floor next to him.

"I don't know. I just have a feeling."

"But you can't. You can't 'have a feeling'." The Doctor looked at him with an expression that was hard to read. "Hold on," he said as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started flashing it at Luke. "Human," he muttered. "Don't know why I would think any different... Have you had any sort of experience with time travel or any sort of four-dimensional beings?"

Luke pondered on that.

"There's you and the Trickster... Also, me and Mum travelled to 1951 once."

"And how did you do that?" The Doctor was genuinely surprised.

"Through a time fissue," Luke explained. "It's a-"

"I know what it is," the Doctor dismissed. "Well, I suspect that the only logical assumption is that the unprotected time travel must have confused your organism and now you're trying to adjust."

Luke seemed completely satisfied with that explanation. Why shouldn't he? It _was_ a completely satisfying explanation - and a logical one, to add up, the Doctor thought. Then why couldn't he shake the feeling that he was missing something? Because just for a moment there, he had been completely certain - just for a moment - that Luke was experiencing a sort of mental projection only native to Time Lords.

He dismissed the idea as quickly as it came to him. _Absurd_.

"How does it work?"

"Wha-?" The Doctor asked, not quite eloquently, as he snapped back to reality.

"Flying the TARDIS."

"Oh!" He laughed. "Well, that's quite easy." He stood up and helped Luke do the same. "First you have to enter the coordinates for your destination." He started typing on the keyboard placed on the console. "Earth, London, Bannerman Road. 2009. Just after we left. Of course, you can replace all of that with a simple stroke of this thing," he motioned towards a lever which looked as though it had been pried off a car's gearbox, "the zig-zag plotter, as I call it. No idea what's the correct name..." He scratched the back of his head. "Maybe shouldn't have thrown that manual out... Anyway, the zig-zag plotter is for choosing a completely random location across the infinity of space and time. Most fun with that, I tell you. Never know where you might end up. Then, when you've chosen your destination, activate this." He pressed a button. "The helmic regulator. Then, you have to choose the ship's flight speed using the space-time throttle here," he pulled the said lever, then glanced up at Luke. Although most people at this point would be bored, his eyes were glimmering with excitement and it was clear he was paying close attention to every single word the Doctor said. It was a tiny bit unsettling, actually. "I..." He hesitated for just a moment, then came back to the previous subject. "I've set it to high. Then, simply activate the locking-down mechanism." Another button. "Just the handbrake and we're free to go." He didn't wait anymore and simply pulled the said handbrake.

Luke stirred when the TARDIS began shaking.

"Is this necessary?" He asked, trying to be louder than the grinding noise coming from the time rotor. "Isn't there any kind of stabiliser or something like that?"

"There might be!" The Doctor called from the other side of the console. He grinned at Luke. "But this is way more fun."

=ooO~Ooo=

Clyde Langer was walking down the street on his way to school. He was at least an hour late, but it didn't bother him very much. Still, he felt that he should get there as soon as possible. This alley was probably just a bit too dark, but he was late and in a hurry, so he took the turn without hesitation. It was too late when he noticed the tall figure behind him.

"I need to know if Luke is one hundred percent human."

"Well, this isn't creepy at all!" Clyde screamed, startled. "Have you been stalking me?!"

"Is Luke completely human?" The Doctor - because it was the Doctor - repeated impatiently, stepping from one foot to another.

"Wha-? How should I know? They might have mixed him with some Bane DNA for all I know."

"Yes, but how did he come to be?"

"He was an experiment run by aliens-" He stopped and apparently only then realised who he was talking to. "Hold on. _You._ Are asking me for help. Oh, this is so cool! Can I tell Sarah Jane I met you?"

"Try to focus." The Doctor was beginning to get annoyed. "What sort of experiment?"

"I don't know the whole story!" Clyde huffed. "I wasn't there at all."

"Oh. Well, then who was?"

"Sarah Jane, and Maria, and... Hold on." Clyde narrowed his brows. "Why am I even telling you all of this?" He looked around, expecting an answer.

But the Time Lord was gone already.

=ooO~Ooo=

"And I thought to myself that we might give it a go. If you want to see the world." The Doctor glanced down. "I don't want to cheat... We're going for two hours, you're back after two hours. Time meddling... it's dangerous."

"It sounds fair enough," Luke agreed, though the Doctor thought he would agree no matter what he said. "Planet Earth?"

"Planet Earth for now," the Doctor agreed. "Anywhere you might want to go. Just tell me where."

Luke was thrilled in the most positive way possible. Not only the Doctor was letting him in the TARDIS now, he was also offering a kind of roadtrip. Like normal people do, except in a spaceship. It was all too amazing to be real and all Luke wanted was to share his, slightly confusing but none the less beautiful, feelings with someone. Suddenly, he realised where he wanted to go.

"Let's go to Washington."

* * *

 **A/N:** **I'm back in the mountains, yay! I know I only have a few days here this time, but it's great to have a break from the big city. Being here always gives me much more inspiration. Even the air is fresher, it's amazing!  
** **So. Expect another chapter soon. I'm in the mood for writing :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Maria Jackson walked out of her kitchen and glanced out the window. She had been living in the United States for nearly two years by then, but some things were hard to get used to. Like for example the fact that her new home was situated so close to the city's centre (or 'center', as they called it there) that she could see the White House from her kitchen window. It was a spacious flat, she had to admit - especially since she and her dad were the only people inhabiting it - but it was amazing and the huge amount of space did not bother either of them.

"Maria, there's someone at the door. Please do check who it is." Alan's voice sounded all the way from his bedroom. Maria smiled.

"Yes, dad. Right away."

She had to admit that moving here hadn't been as hard as she had expected it to be. Initially she had thought that not being able to talk with anyone about aliens and the such would be hard, but she had been wrong - her father's new part-time job told her as much. Well, technically it wasn't actually a job, since UNIT only consulted him in very special circumstances, but they did pay. And the fact that Maria herself had encountered more aliens in her sixteen-years-old life than most of the soldiers had turned out to be enough of a pass to the supposedly secret organisation. So yes, Maria's life was now not quite unlike a James Bond movie, except with aliens. It was cool. Amazing. She loved it.

Still, she missed her friends from England. No one was as smart as Luke, and she hadn't met a guy as funny as Clyde. There wasn't anyone she would bond with stronger than with Sarah Jane. Her new friends weren't bad, but they couldn't even compare to what she had lost.

The knocking at the door repeated itself and Maria found herself sighing with exasperation.

"Coming!" She called out, mainly to keep the person on the other side from approaching it too nervously. She rubbed her eyes - it was nearly ten, but on a Saturday it counted as morning.

She swung the door open and froze.

Standing in the doorway was no one else than Luke Smith. Luke, Sarah Jane's adopted son. Luke, the boy created by aliens to destroy the world. Luke, the smartest person in the whole wide universe. Luke, the boy she had come to care for in a way she had never felt about a boy before. Luke, the person who couldn't possibly be so casually standing on her doorstep. And the person who was doing just that.

"Surprise!" He exclaimed, exactly as childishly as she remembered him. "I bet you didn't expect this!"

He was getting good, she realised. He even said "I bet". Maria thought to later thank Clyde for making Luke more human.

"No, I didn't." She laughed and embraced him. He stiffened.

"This is a hug, right?" Luke asked, and it was so completely him that she had to laugh again. "You're happy?"

"Yes," she said between laughs. "Yes, I am."

"Good." He smiled widely. "Happy is good. I like it."

"You can also construct more complex sentences with an intelligence quantity like that," said the man who had accompanied Luke in the first place, shaking his head. "Really, if you keep on like that, someone will think you really are three."

The man was thirty-five years old at most. Tall, skinny and dressed in a blue suit, he seemed distinctively familiar, although Maria was sure she had never seen him before in her life.

Luke scratched his neck.

"Sorry, dad," he muttered. "Force of habit."

If she hadn't been staring already, they would have noticed the way Maria gaped at the two of them, completely at a loss of words. Had Sarah Jane gotten married in the end? She had thought the wedding turned out to be a trap set by the Trickster. Clearly, there was someone Luke considered his father now - did she really not know what was going on at all?

Alan walked up to them - clearly the long time his daughter was spending in the door was enough to make him alarmed.

"Luke!" He exclaimed upon seeing the boy. "I had no idea you were in the US!"

"Hello, Mr Jackson." Luke shook his hand politely. "I just thought I would pop in for a visit, since we were already in the city."

"And who's your friend?" Mr Jackson asked hesitantly, nodding his head towards the Doctor. Luke suddenly realised just how hard to explain this was going to be.

"This is... umm..." He stammered, quite unlike himself. Thankfully, the situation seemed to sort itself out as the Time Lord in question gave his most dashing smile and eagerly shook Alan's hand.

"Hello," he said cheerfully. "You must be Maria's dad, Luke has told me all about you. It's such a shame we haven't met in the end... Well, we _have_ now, I suppose, so it is nice to meet you!"

"And you are...?"

"I'm the Doctor," he claimed with a grin, but didn't give them the time to cope with that information as he went on. "That's what they call me, at least. Never did figure out why exactly that, but I kinda got used to it, so it's fine. You can call me that."

"The Doctor..." Maria repeated. "The Doctor as in the Doctor. As in Sarah Jane's alien boyfriend who left her for thirty years the Doctor. As in the Time Lord. As in the Doctor the Doctor."

Luke nodded, even though it pretty much didn't need confirming.

Alan wrinkled his forehead.

"I thought he would be older," he whispered to his daughter.

"Well, you always do!" The Doctor appeared offended. "What's wrong with my age?!"

"Nothing," Maria assured him quickly, as she had no idea how he was going to react. She grabbed Luke's shoulders with a smile. "The important thing is: what are you doing here? I mean, it must be very important if you dragged the Doctor all the way from Galli-"

Luke frowned deeply and cut her off before she managed to finish the word.

"Nothing is happening." His smile was back, but now it seemed just a little forced. "Nothing bad, that is. It's just that you said that I could visit you any time I wanted, and I wanted now... So here I am."

"No alien invasion to worry about?" Alan breathed a sigh of relief. "That's a nice break from the usual."

"Yes," Luke confirmed. "Just a casual visit among friends, nothing dangerous. And no aliens this time."

His smile was so earnest that it was nearly impossible not to believe him.

=ooO*Ooo=

"This is so surreal," Maria said, and Luke could only nod. Here he was, taking a stroll through the streets of a major American city. He suspected that was not what she meant, though.

"Surreal?" He asked. "How?"

"I mean, you meet aliens all the time so you think you get used to it, but when it's something like _him_..." She drifted off. "He looks just like us, Luke. It kind of just... reminds you that the universe is far more complex than that."

An awkward silence fell between the two, and Luke desperately tried to re-engage the conversation.

"So..." he said, his mind reeling through all possible subjects. Focus, Luke. It's just Maria, she's your friend, you've got no reason to be nervous. "How's America?" He asked awkwardly. Then, he realised that the question was actually quite pointless.

Maria laughed at his awkwardness.

"Like you can see," she said. "Not much different from back home." The girl sighed. "Still, I get terribly homesick here from time to time. I know it _is_ home, but..."

"But it's different?" Luke finished for her. He glanced down with a blush. "Sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off."

She looked at him thoroughly.

"You've changed, Luke. You know that?"

"I... How?"

"You're much more mature. And you seem responsible."

"It's been two years. People change." He tried not to make it sound as though he were excusing himself.

"Not like you did. You've grown up."

She was right. Even Luke no longer considered himself a three-year-old. He was sixteen now. What had happened in his life to make him change that much?

"The Doctor," Maria said, and for a moment Luke thought she was somehow reading his thoughts. "What's up with him?"

"Oh..." He muttered. "Nothing special. He's just a friend... A very good friend."

She shook her head to show just how unconvinced she was.

"You called him your dad. And he didn't protest. Did he and Sarah Jane get back together?"

Luke sighed.

"To be honest, I don't think they had ever been a couple at all. Now that I've got to know the Doctor better, I really doubt it. It's clear she meant much to him, but... I really don't think he's the kind of person who just gets into relationships." Luke pursed his lips. "It's like the more I learn about Mum's past, the less I know. There are just so many things I had had no idea about."

"You'll find out," she assured him in a calm voice. "And even if not, it's probably for the best."

Luke nodded, but wasn't entirely convinced.

"Do you think I should-?" He began, but didn't get the chance to finish.

"Oh my god."

Luke nearly walked into Maria, who had stopped and now was staring at something ahead of them. He nearly asked her what was wrong, when he saw it too: an enormous spaceship hovering above the city. Aliens. An invasion.

Of course.

=ooO*Ooo=

Alan nervously sipped the tea he had made, all the while carefully watching the man seated on the opposite side of the small coffee table.

"So..." He began, but the situation was just too awkward for him to carry on.

"So?" The Doctor didn't have any trouble with human communication. "If you say something like that, someone will think you are trying to begin a conversation." He took a sip of his tea. "Very misleading if you're not trying to begin a conversation."

 _Cheeky,_ Alan thought. Though maybe that's what it took to get Sarah Jane's attention. It was strange, he thought, how they were just sitting together, having a cup of tea. He felt awkward around the Doctor, and not because he was an alien. No, it was because he had been trying to get Sarah Jane to like him for months, without any result, and the Doctor was the man who had her love and didn't do anything with it. It wasn't unfair - it was just life, and Sarah Jane was a special woman who only deserved the best of life - but it was enough for Alan to classify his relation with the Doctor as awkward.

Well, he _had_ to begin some kind of conversation anyway, so he might as well start with the thing that had been bugging him the most.

"Does Sarah Jane know about this? I don't mean to pry, but you _are_ taking her son to another country."

The Doctor looked at him gravelly.

"I love Sarah," he said seriously. "Perhaps in a way you wouldn't understand, but I do love her. And I love that boy, too." He looked down. "Luke is completely safe. He is under my personal protection."

Alan was just contemplating whether asking how much that protection was worth would be a good idea when suddenly, just like in some movie, many things happened at once. The Doctor shouted something and threw himself to the floor. Alan quickly mimicked his actions, simply out of instinct. There was a loud thud and the whole house shook.

And then, just outside the window, something exploded.

* * *

 **A/N: Never been to the States, much less Washington, so don't judge my bad descriptions. Please.**

 **Also, actioooon 3 Finally, eh? I know you all've been waiting for this.**


	6. Chapter 6

"Alan."

Alan winced. Something in his ears was ringing. And his head hurt. He waved his hand as though he were swatting a fly. Five more minutes.

"Alan, you need to get up now."

He didn't want to listen to the voice. He just wanted to go back to sleep.

"These other aliens aren't going to be as nice as me."

That woke him up in a matter of seconds. Ignoring the pain, he immediately sat up, panting, and looked around as quickly as he could. The Doctor, who was kneeling by his side, smiled despite the complete destruction that surrounded them.

"Good you woke up, Alan." He said in a friendly tone. Alan felt like growling. He didn't want - nor need - that friendliness.

"We're not on first name terms," he grumbled. It was the first thing that came to his mind.

"Well, then _what_ should I call you? Mister Jackson?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "You're at least twenty times younger than me." He tsked. "Nah, Alan is just fine."

Alan knew arguing with the Doctor was going to be pointless, so he decided to just ignore him. Besides, he was too stunned by their surroundings to answer anyway.

The windows must have shattered, because pieces of glass were laying all over the floor. The table and two chairs were misplaced as well, but other than that, the room was in a rather good state. No, what had Alan that worked up was the large spaceship he could see through the window.

"We need to get moving," the Doctor pointed out, and to Alan it seemed it was the first sensible thing he said.

With a strange feeling he wasn't going to return home for a while, Alan grabbed a torch, a few energy bars and a can of Coke and stuffed them in a small backpack. After considering it for a moment, he took out the gun he kept in a locker in his bedroom. In America they were practically legal, and he had figured that with his lifestyle, he had better get one, and that's what he had done. Now, he threw it inside the backpack along with the other stuff. When he looked up, he saw the Doctor scowling at him.

"If you're interested, I've never actually used it."

Alan had to remind himself that he didn't care what the Doctor thought.

He shook his head and motioned for the Doctor to follow him as he left the house. On the street, things were looking much more brightly: almost as though taken out of an American science fiction film. People were everywhere, not bothered by the destruction, just looking up at the spaceship or pointing it out to each other. Shouting and conversations filled the air. Some people were running around, screaming about the end of the world. Chaos.

Alan couldn't prevent himself from glancing at the sky.

"Ever seen anything like this?" He asked.

"Yes," the Doctor answered, which managed to surprise him a bit - though he didn't show it. "Once, in '72. You must have been like one year old or something, so you shouldn't remember." Alan didn't comment on the fact that he hadn't even been born yet in 1972.

"But we need to focus on what's important. The kids."

"The... kids?" Alan repeated blankly.

The Doctor seemed concerned.

"Maybe I should have checked for concussion," he muttered. "The kids, Alan." He was talking slowly, as if to someone with a bad case of stupidity. "Luke and Maria." Alan felt a knot in his stomach, because he suddenly remembered. "They were in town when this started."

=ooO*Ooo=

"I'm going to guess, but I'm guessing you didn't know about this!" Maria shouted to Luke as they ran down the street.

He shook his head.

"This is just a coincidence!"

They stopped as they reached a crossing.

"Still, I know it's like trying to see a bright side in a completely dark situation, but at least you're here and you can help." She gave a shy smile. "The Doctor is good at alien invasions."

Luke swallowed most of his fear and found it in himself to smile reassuringly.

"And don't forget about us. The two of us together again... These aliens have no idea what they're getting into," he grinned, trying to show more confidence than he was actually feeling. His mind was working on highest gear, though. An invasion? Why here, in Washington? Why now? Did it have to something to do with the Doctor? Of course it _could_ be just a coincidence, but Luke found that hard to believe as soon as he said it aloud. No, there had to be a connection. Which was bad, because now he was feeling guilty about it.

"What now?" He asked, and immediately realised the question was pointless.

"We must head back home," Maria said. "To my dad and the Doctor. Surely at least one of them will know what to do."

Luke nodded.

"Right."

As soon as he said that, they fell to the ground as a tremendous earthquake shook the ground. Luke instinctively covered his head in his arms and tried to stay as low as possible.

When it was over, he looked up at the sky. The spaceship was now glowing faintly. He wasn't sure of anything, but he could guess - he was guessing that the earthquake had been caused by the aliens. Of course, it was a warning shot! It made much sense, but at the same time it didn't. If this was an invasion, why did they send warnings? That whole situation was completely strange.

"No!" Maria cried out, getting up with a cough. He looked in the direction she was looking and understood: the target of the shot had been the very district where she lived. It had to be about the Doctor! If the Doctor did survive it, that is. Luke felt his blood run cold. What had been supposed to be just a friendly trip surprisingly quickly turned into a life-and-death situation. It terrified him. Not because he had never been in such a situation before - because he had, and many times - but because this time it was new. Because he was in a foreign country and he didn't feel confident. Because neither the Doctor nor Sarah Jane were there to help him at the moment. Because he wasn't sure he knew what to do.

"We need to go there!" Maria said hastily. "We need to help!"

Luke looked at her terrified expression and suddenly he _did_ know.

"No." He grabbed her hand. Her eyes widened as she understood that he was suggesting to abandon the Doctor and Alan. She nearly began protesting, but she understood the same thing that Luke had just a moment earlier: running head-first into an endangered area during what might very well be an interplanetary war was not the wisest thing to do. She let Luke drag her along with him, not protesting at all. He squeezed her hand and it comforted her a little. "Come on. I know somewhere safe we can hide until our parents find us."

Maria nodded and only afterwards realised that Luke had just addressed the Doctor as his parent.

=ooO*Ooo=

Luke felt strangely calm as he ran through the streets of the city filled with panicking people and overall chaos, dragging an astonished Maria behind him. It was strange, taken all that was happening, that he felt so at peace, but it was true. It was almost as though he could shut off everything around him and just focus on what was important. And the important thing was getting Maria to safety. It was all that mattered at the moment.

"Slow down a bit," she said finally. He didn't react. "Luke?"

She let go of his hand.

"Luke!"

He snapped back to reality and suddenly was aware of it all: the screaming people around them, the rush of adrenaline in his blood, the dark shadow cast by the spaceship above.

"Sorry." He ran a hand through his hair. "I... Sorry."

They stopped.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm... I'm completely fine, just a bit dazed. By all of this." He narrowed his brows. "The Doctor will figure it out." But it didn't sound like he completely believed himself. He looked around. "We're nearly there."

"Are you sure?" Maria raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry. I've got photographic memory. I can remember the way to anywhere I've been."

She didn't question it - after all, she knew all about how Luke was different from other people.

"Well, then can we at least stop running? We'll draw attention." It would have seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to point out, but Luke just shook his head.

"Everyone is running around panicking." He was right, of course. "No, we need to keep going. The sooner we get to safety, the better. Besides, your dad will be worried about you."

Maria nodded - she thought about how different this situation was from when they had been battling Kaagh the Sontaran. Back then, she was the one who had to keep Luke focused on the important thing at the moment and not his personal feelings. Now? It was the other way around. He had matured. She silently analysed her friend now that they were no longer talking. He had grown a lot during those two years they hadn't seen each other in real life. She was so proud of him. She had seen the struggle, after all, had been with him from the very beginning, and now she could see the progress. Luke was growing up, and she was proud of him. She was also extremely happy that he still remembered about her and wanted to visit and everything. Maybe the invasion wasn't the best part of it all, but it was also that kind of familiar a situation that Maria didn't freak out nearly as much as she should be.

"Okay," Luke glanced round, but everyone was too busy packing their belongings into their cars or taking photos of the spaceship to notice them. "You go first."

"Is this...?" Maria didn't dare finish. She just touched the blue phone box, and immediately yelped and took her hand away as she felt a small shockwave rush through her body.

"Static electricity," Luke observed, treating it almost like some kind of science experiment. "The air must be filled with ozone." He rubbed his chin. "I wonder why... These aliens must be using electricity in their weapon, whatever it is. Interesting."

Maria sent him a desperate glance that clearly said 'Please, don't start talking all science to me'.

He shook his head.

"Right. TARDIS."

Maria nodded and regarded the door. Instinctively she wanted to push it, but her eyes caught the small sign on the left side of the box, which clearly said, in capital letters, "PULL TO OPEN". She pulled, but nothing happened. It was closed.

"Luke, it's closed." She said. Luke knit his eyebrows and gave the door an experimental push. It swung open without any trouble. She sent him a lingering glare. "It says pull to open."

"That's for the phone," he answered absently.

"Excuse me?"

"The phone," he repeated. "There's a phone installed behind that white panel. You need to pull to access the phone, but the door opens to the inside."

"Right."

They stepped inside, and Luke closed the door behind them. He let out a breath. Now they were safe, even if only temporarily.

"It really is bigger..." It was clear that Maria was trying to approach this calmly. She looked around and wrinkled her nose. "Though I don't really like the look of it. Too messy."

"Dad always says that a time machine is not supposed to be pretty, but functional."

"And he's probably got a point. Still, could use an interiors decorator," Maria cracked a smile. Luke tried to do the same, though with little result.

The door handle budged as someone tried to get inside, and their relatively good mood disappeared almost immediately. Luke had closed the door, of course, but the single fact that somebody was even trying to get inside the TARDIS was disturbing enough. The two teenagers exchanged glances, but neither said anything.

Then, the key turned in the lock and the door did open.

"Strange, I don't remember closing..." The Doctor's voice broke the silence.

"Dad!" Luke cried out in relief and threw himself to the Time Lord, who only then noticed him.

"Luke!" The Doctor embraced him happily. "See?" he turned towards Alan, who was standing in the doorway with a blank expression on his face. "Told you they would be here."

Alan blinked.

"And the box is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Of course. Why does this even surprise me?"

No one answered his comments, but Luke pulled away from the hug and put on a more serious expression.

"What _is_ going on?" He bit his lip. "Is it our fault?"

"I'm not sure," the Doctor answered. "Though I doubt that. Must be a coincidence. I get these a lot."

"What do we do now?" Alan asked. He had a strange feeling no one was going to suggest doing what the rest of the population was doing and just evacuating themselves.

"Obvious," the Doctor shrugged. "We stop this."

"Yes," Alan repeated, trying very hard not to be sarcastic. "Obvious."

"So, what do we do?"

The Doctor paced around the room nervously.

"I've no idea what's going on... Alright. Maria, I need you to take this," he gave her an electronic device Luke had never seen before. "Attach it to a street lamp or a flag pole or something like that."

The girl eyed the alien object he gave her.

"...Alright."

Alan was worried.

"There's an alien invasion raging outside. Are you sure it's safe-"

"Then go with her," the Time Lord groaned. "Really, you all act like this is such a big problem, all of this."

"We have been in worse situations." Alan tried to defend them.

"Then stop worrying!"

When the Jacksons left, the Doctor's confident smile disappeared. He let his shoulders drop.

"I don't know about this, Luke." He sighed heavily and Luke was surprised to notice how tired his voice sounded. "You're not safe here. I'd better drop you off at home."

"No." Luke shook his head. "No! You promised! You said we were gonna be there for each other from then on!"

"I had no idea things would be dangerous. I..." The Doctor hesitated, then decided not to speak whatever had come to his mind.

"I wanna be there for you!" Luke's eyes were shining. "I don't want you to think _ever_ again that you can handle things on your own!"

The Doctor just looked at him.

"Alright then." He gave a ghost of a smile, but frowned immediately. "Hold on."

Something was wrong.

"Have you noticed...?" The Doctor wondered slowly, but drifted off and the room was filled with silence.

"What?" Luke asked nervously, as the feeling of uneasiness spread onto him as well. The Doctor looked around, and surely must have felt it too, the same thing thing that made the back of Luke's neck itch, the sensation that something was terribly wrong.

"...How silent it is?"

True enough, there was no sound to be heard, aside from their breathing and the quiet humm of the TARDIS engines. They shared anxious looks before bursting out of the ship in almost perfect unison.

"Maria!" Luke called out upon spotting the girl, who was standing about twenty meters away from them. It appeared that the TARDIS hadn't moved from its previous location, but still this was ultimately wrong, how silent it was in the middle of the capital city of the United States. "Maria!" Luke repeated, but it appeared that she couldn't hear him. She did, however, notice them and turned that way. Luke began running in her direction, but crashed into some invisible wall. He quickly got up to his feet and touched the object.

"Force field," he estimated quickly.

"Someone wants to cut us off from the TARDIS," the Doctor walked up to him.

Without even thinking, Luke reached into the Doctor's pocket, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began working it on the field as if it were the most obvious course of action.

"I really don't think that's going to-" the Time Lord objected, but fell silent when the wall dissolved with a hiss. Luke ran up to Maria and did something that might have been intended to be a hug.

"What was that about?!" He exclaimed.

"I have no idea," she replied. "My dad went to get help and the next thing I knew, you were standing there waving your arms around."

"Help?" The Doctor repeated. "Help is good. Most help, at least. Come on!" He ushered them to the TARDIS, but Luke protested.

"Dad, don't you _see_ what's going on? We've got to leave the TARDIS."

"Leave the... What?!" The Doctor reacted as though it were the most shocking statement in the world. "Why?"

"It's obvious, they've been making scans for alien technology in the city. You don't think that it was a coincidence those aliens... whatever they are-"

"Axons."

Luke blinked.

"You know them?" He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. The Axons fired that warning shot into the area where you were at the moment - it couldn't have been coincidental. They know exactly what they're doing."

"But they already know about the TARDIS. They placed a force field around it."

"And they'll try it again." Luke was completely sure of what he was saying.

"Hold on. Luke..." the Doctor glanced round nervously. "You've been using the sonic screwdriver."

Maria cringed.

"Oh, no."

Luke and the Doctor suddenly both looked up at the spaceship.

"What is it?" Maria asked.

"Didn't you feel that?!" Luke exclaimed. "It's... We can't stay here."

The Doctor initially didn't answer, intently staring upwards. Then, something in his expression changed.

"Run." He said quietly. The spaceship above began emitting a faint blue glow. "Run! Run! Now!"

They didn't need to be told twice as they broke into a sprint. Luke felt weird, almost as though something was off with the gravity: he was able to run much faster than ever before. He noticed Maria falling behind and grabbed her hand. She glanced at him, but he was too nervous to read the emotions correctly.

"Dad!" He screamed. The Doctor looked back at them, but didn't react otherwise. Luke wasn't sure whether that was a good sign or not. And honestly, he couldn't focus on that at the moment, as he ran into someone, knocking them down in the process. He shook his head, trying to make sense of what was going on around him. He took a better look at the person he had just bumped into and realised that it was Alan. Standing next to him with a very cross expression was a young woman in a military uniform. UNIT, the identificator proclaimed. Luke felt a lump form in his throat. He was supposed to avoid UNIT.

But the woman looked friendly enough as she shook her head at the Doctor, who was now sitting on the ground with an expression equally confused as Alan's.

"Welcome to the USA," she smiled and helped him up. Much to Luke's surprise, the Doctor did not protest.

"Did you know I was here?" He asked instead.

"No," the woman admitted. "Though really, I shouldn't be surprised." She laughed. "It's no secret trouble follows you around, after all."

"Wait," Maria interjected. "You know each other?"

"Better question: _you_ know each other?!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Uh, what's going on?" Luke asked timidly, trying not to attract too much attention towards him.

"Oh, right!" The Doctor gave them a dashing smile. "Luke Smith, Martha Jones. Martha, this is Luke, he's my, ummm... I'm his..." he scratched the back of his neck. "It's complicated, actually."

She gave him a heavy look.

"With you, everything is."

Just then, the ground shook again as result of another impact. This time, they were all more prepared - Maria and the Doctor even managed to stand their ground, though they seemed to be having trouble.

As soon as it was over, Luke jumped to his feet and barely noticed everyone else doing the same thing. Suddenly, everything went silent. Or was that just his imagination? No, it really did become quieter.

All he could see was the Doctor and the expression of pure fear on his face.

"They shot at the TARDIS," he whispered. "That was a high-velocity shock projectile. If it hit the target..."

No one said anything to him, but Martha Jones pulled out a shortwave radio and looked round.

"Herrin?" She spoke into her radio. "I need you to send transport to the crossing of the 17th and K." She glanced at the Doctor, who was blankly staring ahead. "Also, there should be a blue police box somewhere up the 19th. If you find it, transport it to HQ."

She gave him an unsure smile, almost as if to say 'that's the best I can do'. He tried to return it, but it didn't work nearly as well as he would have liked and afterwards, silence fell between the five of them again.

They didn't wait long before an army green jeep rolled up to them and came to a stop. Martha opened the driver's hand door and revealed a completely empty inside.

"Remote controlled. Saves time and manpower." She explained after noticing Alan's surprised expression.

"Smart."

"Alright, get in. All of you." She ushered them inside, but when the Doctor tried to get in, she grabbed his arm. "You. Front seat."

He nodded as though he had been expecting none different and took the passenger's seat.

"It _is_ nice to see you again, you know." He said once they set off.

Martha gave him a weak smile.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"So!" The Doctor clapped his hands, turning back so that he was facing the whole group. He grinned. "Anyone have any idea what this all might be about?"

* * *

 **A/N: Hello. Sorry I haven't been active lately, but I've just graduated middle school this Friday and now there's this whole fuss about choosing a high school and everything, so it's extremely hard to find free time...**

 **But I promise to improve! The next chapter should be out soon.**


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